A Bank Holiday is a day when banks close for the day, a designated public holiday and a leftover from days when the population didn't get as many breaks from work through the year as they do now.
I can only remember (baking hot) August Bank Holidays when I was a child, but I'm sure there were more!

Completely. According to recent polls - Harry is the most popular royal aside from HMQ. The worldwide attention alone - especially from the US - warrants something different than Ed/Sophie - not to mention, Harry plans to continue being a full time royal, which Ed/Sophie did not.

I'll repeat a question someone else had - did Anne and Andrew have bank holidays declared when they married?

I would hope the British royal family doesn't take American interest into account in deciding anything other than how to properly cater to the media so they won't become a burden. It is a British royal wedding and therefore, only the British and other Commonwealth nation's interest are really relevant. I am quite sure the wedding will be televised independent of the church they choose to get married in (and approved by the Queen), so location shouldn't matter for Americans watching it from oversees. I am sure they also won't change the hour of the church service just so the Americans can watch it at a convenient time. Those importamt to Meghan will be with her in London; anyone else can watch it at their own time.

That is basically it in a nutshell. When it comes to a British royal wedding, the public and the media is the *last* to be considered. If the British public won't even be given a bank holiday for Harry's wedding, foreign public and/or media will be even lower on the consideration scale concerning the event.

I was quite content to pull an all nighter to be able to catch William and Kate's wedding and all things leading up to it in the wee hours of the morning. I don't expect to do anything different for Harry's.

Other than Harry and Meghan and their families, no one else has any kind of a pull when planning their wedding. That's just the cold, hard facts of it. We go along with what they decide rather than dictate what should be.

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I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.

I really want Harry and Meghan to have a lovely wedding, in Westminster, with all the pomp and circumstance.

I really want an Abbey wedding too but if that's somehow against protocol or seen as being in competition with Kate/William's wedding then I don't want that for Meghan either... neither do I want it to see like they are hiding her away either.

Ugh. Conundrum, lol.

I hope at the very least we get the ride to the church with the streets lined with people waving flags and then the open carriage ride back and then a balcony kiss. I'd be very sad if those things didn't happen.

Its a given though that if Harry and the Obamas have formed their own personal friendship, there is absolutely no reason why Harry wouldn't invite them to his wedding. It's his wedding and his family and his friends that he'll invite. The same goes for Meghan and those that are close to her.

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I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.

Please remember that Prince Harry is not yet engaged. If and when that happens, threads will be opened at that time to discuss the engagement and details of the wedding, including the wedding dress, fashion, bridesmaids and other subjects related to the Wedding and his then fiancee.

I'm surprised about Anne and Andrew though. I know that at the time of his wedding, Edward wasn't a full time royal, and I don't think there were expectations that he and his wife would be. So a televised wedding at St. George's without a bank holiday made sense.

This day and age, I don't think Harry will get a bank holiday, although I wouldn't rule out WA completely as he is a very high profile royal and one of the only two sons of the next king. We won't have a true royal wedding until George and Charlotte, which I wouldn't expect for another twenty years.